What do you do when you have to name a brand new species? Some opt for using some defining physical feature, while others use their own name. Andre Nemesio, from the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, in Brazil, went for something a bit different. He and his team named a brand new orchid bee Euglossa bazinga, after the catchphrase used by Sheldon Cooper on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon’s favorite comic word — “bazinga” — is often used by him when tricking someone. “Euglossa bazinga has tricked us for some time due to its similarity to another genus of bee, which led us to use “bazinga,” said Nemesio. He hopes that by naming the bees something recognizable, researchers can call attention to their rapidly deteriorating habitat. So far, he has described a dozen new species of orchid bees, naming two of them after Brazilian icons. He hopes that Sheldon’s catchphrase can make orchid bee research catchy as well.
